I just got almost enough money to complete my reloading needs. I'm wondering if the case trimmer will be needed right away and here's why: I saw an article on the Nosler website that claims they have shot "their" brass 38 times without resizing. My bud and I shot a bunch of cheap UMC 22-250 so we could have some fun and get some casings at the same time. Is that cheap factory stuff new brass or do they make it out of used brass to keep the cost down? If it is new and since it's only been shot once, will it almost certainly need to be re-sized or can you get a few reloads out of a new casing before it will need to be cut to length??? I know the obvious answer is that I won't know until measuring the casing with a caliper (which I do have)...I'm just wondering if any of you know right off the bat. Thanks!

Very much depends on the brass and the cartridge itself. My 338-378 Weatherby needs to be trimmed after two firings but just barely. My '06 goes about 3. Both of these started out as factory ammo. The Weatherby brass is Norma and is fairly soft and the '06 is Federal brass which is a little harder...

Yep, the obvious answer is "measure it". The cost of a case trimmer is not enough to not have one ready to go. Understand that I don't trim them all the way back to "trim to length. I found a median between trim to length and max length that my rifles like and setup the trimmer accordingly. I then run every case through it to make sure they are consistent...

Ken....

I use LEE Collet dies in the yellow round box. There is also thight chamber in my gun. No need trimming at all.(The same way with my .308Win. Loading over 50 times, only two times need to trim because no niping).